Review of August Underground (2001) by The Executioner T — 21 Oct 2009

An impressive, inflictive, and game-changing debut feature from american auteur fred vogel - who also portrays the only killer we see - AUGUST UNDERGROUND is an important film, but not a lot of fun. having heard about this for years, I just got around to watching it last night.

What we have here is a weird, 70-minute mix of proto-torture-porn, rampant misanthropy and sociopathy, first-person shot-on-video "is it real?" voyeurism, simulated snuff, and impressive practical effects for a no-budget movie (vogel is a former teacher at tom savini's effects school in pittsburgh). all of this adds up to a fairly uncomfortable experience for the viewer.

Many are quick to dismiss this as pure shock-exploitation, even calling it "worthless" - but there are definitely some weighty themes being explored here. the most obvious of these is the view of human beings as nothing more than commodities - a point driven home rather effectively by a scene in which we visit a slaughterhouse, and learn how it operates.

I've read that the original idea for the distribution of this film was to allow copies of it to be "found" in random places, with no opening or closing titles. if this had been successful - if the media had picked up on the story, and audiences were wondering if they were watching a real snuff film - it would have carried much more weight than it does when one knows this is "only" a movie.

This isn't high art - don't go into it expecting MAN BITES DOG. it's gritty realism, and by the end you feel at least partially culpable for the atrocities that have transpired. I suppose that means that vogel has done his job effectively. I can't see myself revisiting this one, but it's definitely something that's going to stick with me.